[Soul_Glo]

That is lush!!!

[330XDave]

Great review and a stunning car.

[MashinBenzin]

Brilliant review, thanks for parking up long enough to write it

As always, confirmation that a M-car may look like a pumped 'normal' BMW, but in reality the changes are extensive and there is a huge leap from the top of the normal range to the M.

In another reality, I'd be tempted myself to try one out with the current deals.

Looks great in Silverstone, keep on enjoying. Autumn leaves and rain will just make for more smiles when they come even my 40i comes alive a little more when there is some slip to be found.

[Consett Mag]

The readers of this thread are going to blitz BMW's M4 order book!
It comes across as a one brilliant car.

Thanks again for sharing a cracking read.

[JNW1]

Lovely looking car and a helpful and informative review!

Having had the pleasure of owning one M-car myself I concur they feel very different from the more the mainstream M-Sport derivatives and are much more engaging to drive; an M4 CP will make for a fantastic daily driver, enjoy!

[goodbyalfa]

Yeah. Looks the dogs.
M4 is e new 440i for sure...

[robwils]

Thanks for write up, you may have just helped me make up my own mind
Great colour choice

[Rukka]

Great review Tengocity and pretty spot on with your observations.

I didn't really notice the levels of grip available as it was snowing when I first picked mine up! I spent the first 24 hours thinking Jesus! What have I done - I can't drive this daily!

Now the roads have dried out, it's been run in and the tyres are nicely scrubbed, I'm finding I can really go for it on some of the back roads I know well. Some bends I know I am downright taking the piss out of!

Once your right foot has been re-calibrated though all is good and on wet roads, the reality is that is not as bad as you are expecting.

Interesting comment re the bike. I have ridden superbikes for most of my adult life and I said the same to the Mrs after driving the M4 for a while that it was the nearest feeling to bike power/acceleration I had ever felt in a car. It's just that the M4 can corner quicker

[JNW1]

Given a little time I can't help but wonder where this might leave your Boxster?

Appreciate roof-down motoring and a manual box both offer a different dimension and it's a smaller and lighter car as well (which is usually good news for fun in my experience). However, for me one of the real strengths of an M-car is they can play when you want and do the everyday when required as well. I don't doubt the Boxster will offer a slightly different driving experience but will it be that much more fun than the M4 to justify its existence? Can certainly see it was when your daily was an F31 335d but an M4 CP is a rather different kettle of fish!

[JNW1]

Originally Posted by Rukka

Interesting comment re the bike. I have ridden superbikes for most of my adult life and I said the same to the Mrs after driving the M4 for a while that it was the nearest feeling to bike power/acceleration I had ever felt in a car. It's just that the M4 can corner quicker

I'm not a biker but a friend did take me out on the back of his Fireblade a few years ago. Quick as the M4 undoubtedly is I reckon it's not on the same planet as a sport bike; I think an R1 is sub 6 seconds to 100 which is a lot faster than an M4!

[Tengocity]

Originally Posted by JNW1

Given a little time I can't help but wonder where this might leave your Boxster?

Appreciate roof-down motoring and a manual box both offer a different dimension and it's a smaller and lighter car as well (which is usually good news for fun in my experience). However, for me one of the real strengths of an M-car is they can play when you want and do the everyday when required as well. I don't doubt the Boxster will offer a slightly different driving experience but will it be that much more fun than the M4 to justify its existence? Can certainly see it was when your daily was an F31 335d but an M4 CP is a rather different kettle of fish!

Great question that only time will help answer really.

The differences as I see it now are the top down thing, which I do really like, the manual box, which I like and appreciate it in quite different ways to a good flappy paddle, and also the engine/exhaust. Whilst it is now slow compared to the M4, it's quick enough to still be fun, especially on local B roads where it's in it's element. Also as it's not got high flow cats and a valved exhaust system it sounds loud and glorious... I go to the garage just to start it up and listen!

But above all that is the fact that it's really not a very expensive car, so I feel a lot more comfortable in taking it to an all day track day, pushing it hard, and really finding the limits of my skill. I don't need to worry about it getting me to work the next day either, and it's lightness and lesser performance means it's a lot easier on brakes and tyres than the M4 ever would be. And if the worst happens and I bin it, then it's much less of an issue than the M4 would be.

However, it could be that I just like driving the M4 on the road so much that I just don't do many track days and the Boxster is just sitting in the garage gathering dust.

So I really need to see how things look once year once the M4 novelty has worn off, and take it from there.

Great thing about the Boxster though is that it barely depreciates, so the opportunity cost of the money tied up in it is negligible really.

And Mrs Tengocity, in her wisdom, said that I'd regret selling the Boxster, so who I am to argue?

[Tengocity]

Originally Posted by JNW1

I'm not a biker but a friend did take me out on the back of his Fireblade a few years ago. Quick as the M4 undoubtedly is I reckon it's not on the same planet as a sport bike; I think an R1 is sub 6 seconds to 100 which is a lot faster than an M4!

It isn't, which is why I said it was just a little understanding of what it must feel like.

However, 0-100 in the M4 is well under 9 seconds, which is nearer to the R1 than it is say a 330d.

[dopper99]

Great write-up Tengo. Seems you are enoying it!

How does the ride compare to the 335d with coil overs?

[Tengocity]

Originally Posted by dopper99

Great write-up Tengo. Seems you are enoying it!

How does the ride compare to the 335d with coil overs?

Absolutely loving it!

Yes, I never mentioned the ride. It's a firm car, but I don't find it harsh. You can feel the road, but the sharp edges are taken off, and the immense structural rigidity of it means the chassis/platform means that I don't feel it shudder like I do in the Boxster for example, when you hit a pothole or bump.

In terms of Spring/damper stiffness it's similar to the 335d, though the damping isn't as good if I'm honest. The Bilsteins on the Boxster and the ACS RS coilovers have spoiled me in that regard. However, the way the the rest of the suspension has been set up, bushing, geometry, components is leagues ahead of the 335d. That's the only thing that can account for how much better it goes down the road. Driving the 335d after the M4 makes it feel very loose and sloppy! God knows how it would feel in a standard 335d.

I'm happy using Comfort for pootling around, and even Sport I found very usable. Sport+ seems ridiculous on the road, and lasted about 15 seconds.

I think with the Height Adjustable springs, and the Bilstein B6 damptronic dampers then it would be even better, but it doesn't need them for how I want to use the car.

[dopper99]

Sounds all good!
My first impressions of my M3 CP was how “tied down” it felt. The faster you go the better it seems to get.
Driving down the motorway at 80mph I couldn’t help thinking the car seems “bored”. Not boring, but what I mean is the fact the car needed another 20-30mph to keep it happy, if that makes sense! (Of course illegal on her majesty’s highways). Just shows how capable these cars are.
Or like telling Usain Bolt to run 100m in 15 secs. He would be bored doing that as he knows he can run it in 9s.

[Tengocity]

Originally Posted by dopper99

Sounds all good!
My first impressions of my M3 CP was how “tied down” it felt. The faster you go the better it seems to get.
Driving down the motorway at 80mph I couldn’t help thinking the car seems “bored”. Not boring, but what I mean is the fact the car needed another 20-30mph to keep it happy, if that makes sense! (Of course illegal on her majesty’s highways). Just shows how capable these cars are.
Or like telling Usain Bolt to run 100m in 15 secs. He would be bored doing that as he knows he can run it in 9s.

Yes I think most cars have a natural cruising speed, where they feel like they are in their stride and very comfortable. The 335d was excellent in this regard and seemed happiest between 90-110, though on many of our dashes across Germany it sat for time well above that. It will be interesting to see how the M4 is in those situations, though I suspect that fuel consumption at a 3 figure cruise will be much worse than the 335d!

[rosstin]

I've recently started pitching a house move from zone 2 into the suburbs at soon-to-be-mrs-rosstin.

She thinks it's for a bigger garden, extra bedrooms and potential kid friendly surroundings.

Honestly, I can only think M. I need a driveway and garage, so I don't have to street park.

These threads aren't helping

[Tengocity]

Originally Posted by rosstin

I've recently started pitching a house move from zone 2 into the suburbs at soon-to-be-mrs-rosstin.

She thinks it's for a bigger garden, extra bedrooms and potential kid friendly surroundings.

Honestly, I can only think M. I need a driveway and garage, so I don't have to street park.

These threads aren't helping

Sounds like an all round win win move

[lethbridge]

Great review OP... and one I would entirely echo... For now I'll tag my thoughts on my M3 CP YMB (which is 5 days old and is in the process of replacing my 335d GT) rather than creating yet another M3 review thread... I'll pick on a few things not covered too much...

What I can't get over is just how good it is as a tool for two jobs... as both a daily (when you want to stay under the radar) and when you want to tear up the tarmac. The fact it can all change at the single push of a button on the wheel makes me constantly reach for M2 button in order to make some noise! The DCT will take it up through the gears at not much over 1000 rpm if you don't push the go pedal much - you can comfortably be in 7th in a 40mph zone and no one will bat an eyelid at you or you can drop it to 2nd and make, in my case, the MPE really sing...

My average is around 25mpg at present but that is low due to the way I'm driving it (not deliberately provoking it to make more noise being the main issue I'm struggling with). I haven't done any long m-way journeys yet. I tried my best to be restrained on a 50 mile part m-way part slow A road and that gave me 30 mpg (on a brand new engine don't forget) - so relative economy is there if you want it - although clearly not why you own this kind of car (for me it is more about stretching the range if I'm going business miles on the m-way).

Clearly trying to avoid going over 5000 rpm at present but the progress it makes to 5000 already completely buries my tuned 335d and you know it is just getting going where the 335d has completely run out of steam. The grip in the dry is just so impressive - it's not been damp yet but I was impressed with that too on my test drive.

The cold start with the MPE is LOUD but I've found the best thing is to start it in the garage - if I didn't have a garage I would definitely have to get the cold start mapped out - a remap is really not something I wanted to have to do on a brand new M3 so glad I can avoid this. For me the MPE makes the car - I went for a louder car, so colour is YMB with lots of CF and side foils and the MPE caps it off and makes its presence known. The looks I get and the requests I get to rev it when driving through town really makes you feel like you are being of service to the public! I drove up through a rocky ravine on Exmoor the other night and it just makes you smile... Equally though, before you accuse me of being anti-social, hit M1 and it is very restrained. First thing I coded out was ASD and Auto Stop/Start (which seems to be a crazy thing to do to the S55 engine).

Aesthetically the only issue for me is the front wheel arch gap which, if anything, is possibly higher than my unmodified xDrive GT . Having said that the GT doesn't seem to have the same issue as the rest of the xDrive 3/4 range as the wheels are bigger so it is not as bad as that sounds but in the ideal world I would sort it. In reality with the splitter sitting at under 15cm it doesn't look like I can without making life very difficult over speed humps (there is one I scrape unless I'm really careful) - so hopefully it will settle a little and that will probably be how I keep it. For me it is either lower or splitter not both and I wanted the splitter...

Comfort: the CP seats are perfect for me and the rear seats are more comfortable than stock F30s which to me feel more like you are sitting on a board - they seem to be slightly better sculpted and the Merino helps as it is a more supple leather. The ride is clearly firmer than XDrive SE springs as is to be expected but I would say it is part offset by more comfortable leather and part, well what do you expect - it is certainly fine for me (and my wife would be the first to moan if it was an issue). Note I have had to reduce the sensitivity of the Thinkware Dashcam as rough roads/ speedhumps were setting it off thinking I was having an incident which clearly proves it is firmer - but then we all know that...

[Wills2]

Originally Posted by dopper99

Sounds all good!
My first impressions of my M3 CP was how “tied down” it felt. The faster you go the better it seems to get.
Driving down the motorway at 80mph I couldn’t help thinking the car seems “bored”. Not boring, but what I mean is the fact the car needed another 20-30mph to keep it happy, if that makes sense! (Of course illegal on her majesty’s highways). Just shows how capable these cars are.
Or like telling Usain Bolt to run 100m in 15 secs. He would be bored doing that as he knows he can run it in 9s.

Agreed the m3/4 only gets interested when the speeds rise, it's quite weird actually, almost like it can't be bothered at low speed but put your foot in and it suddenly comes alive.

Having just done 80,000 miles in mine it really is a car that doesn't like pottering about, it will do it but does it in a very workman like undramatic fashion that can leave you asking the question "is this it?" until of course you turn it all up and put your foot down and it's a completely different car.

[stefan4]

Originally Posted by rosstin

I've recently started pitching a house move from zone 2 into the suburbs at soon-to-be-mrs-rosstin.

She thinks it's for a bigger garden, extra bedrooms and potential kid friendly surroundings.

Honestly, I can only think M. I need a driveway and garage, so I don't have to street park.

These threads aren't helping

this is why I work in London and live in Sheffield

[rick7591]

Originally Posted by Tengocity

I picked the new M4 up last weekend, but only did a few miles before giving it to the detailer for some XPEL to be fitted and G Techniq Crystal serum and Exo to be applied during the week. Having picked it back up on Friday I've now used for a few days, including a mundane jaunt on the busy M25, and also a 3 hour blast this morning.

I have two points of comparison - the 335d which will be going shortly to a new home in Scotland, and the Boxster. Both of those cars are fairly modified, and whilst not obvious comparators, they're what I've been driving most recently.

The M4 has been around a while and plenty have made the a similar move from 335d to M4, though possible not too many from such a well fettled 335d, so probably none of this is new or surprising to most, but it's my tuppence worth anyway.



First things first, there is no real comparison of the M4 against the standard BMW on which it's based. Even compared to my 335d on very expensive coilovers the way the M4 goes down a road is night and day different. The steering is on a whole different level of responsiveness and accuracy, with more than enough feel to give a lot of confidence. Not Boxster levels of feel, but more than enough to feel very keyed in to what the front of the car is doing.

As the pace goes up you then start to realise that the front end has more grip than I can ever imagine using on the public road, and turn in is limited more by how much confidence you have that the rear will follow (which it will in this warm dry weather!). The stability it has when pushing on is spectacular, and along with the good levels of refinement at speed, gives you a remarkable level of confidence to carry speed, massively helped by having excellent brakes.

Given the calipers are the same as a the standard M Sport ones it seems hard to believe how good the brakes are in comparison to the what was standard on the 335d. They have better feel than the 335d ones do, even though it's now got a big brake kit. The outright stopping power is not something I've really tested, nor how resistant to fade they are, but I doubt I would ever need to unless I'm on track.

One of my biggest frustrations with the 335d was always the throttle response, which was so tardy that I found it really limited your enjoyment and options of "how" you were going to enjoy a corner. The Boxster throttle is telepathically sharp in comparison, which allows you all sorts of sensations to enjoy and options of how to alter the cars balance and line through the bends. The M4 is very close to the Boxster, and again, like steering feel, is more than good enough to give you everything you need to enjoy the car to it's fullest.

In terms of outright pace I would say if feels like my 335d (remapped to 370bhp) up to about 4k rpm, but where then instead of needing another gear like the 335d it just actually goes up a level and flies to 7k revs, and then you realise you have a grin the size Jeremy Clarkson's gut, before pulling on the paddle and doing it all over again. If there was a remapped 335d behind you when this started then it would be looking a fair bit smaller in the mirror. The Boxster is slow in comparison, and overtakes are now such a cinch that I've now a little understanding of how it must feel on a bike.

The sound is good, and I suppose matches how the car feels when you're on it, but I stopped and coded the ASD off half way round by route this morning, to see what it was like. It really does make a difference, and took a little getting used to (car felt slower believe it or not), but I think I prefer it. I might do the exhaust mod as from inside the car it's not all that loud, but will do some back to back tries in MarkG_M3CP 's car first to be sure.

I absolutely love how it looks. The Silverstone inside and out just looks very classy to me, and I'm not looking for attention as I drive along, so it's got the right amount of presence to look like not a normal 4 series, but not so much that says look at me. I hadn't realised how much other folk looked at an M4 either. No untoward attention, but you can see the glances, that I never had in any other car I've owned.

Inside it has a a lot of familiarity to me of course, but in a good way, but all the M touches and the full merino leather on doors and dash, make it seem like the best version of what an F3x generation of car can be. Only downside is that the latest versions of Idrive seem like a backward step to me, and have lost a little of the utter simplicity of use of the older versions. God knows why they swapped the map zoom direction around from previous.

My run this morning ended up at 20.7 mpg, which is actually about the same as what the Boxster does the same route, and the 335d would do the same at about 28mpg as an estimate on similar driving styles, so all in all not too bad. Yesterday's run to friends in South London on the Motorways ended up at 28mpg, compared to around 36mpg in the 335d. I can live with that.

Having modified the last car so much a few folk have asked what my plans are for this one. Right now, I really don't think it needs anything, and my modifying of the 335d was down to it "needing" it!

I've already forked out for the detailing work, and will buy some used 19 inch wheels and some winter tyres come Autumn time. So the only thing I'm definite on is some M Performance pedals like I have in the 335d, as the standard 3 series ones look a bit crap in comparison.

However, if bonus at the end of the year is good then may be tempted, especially if I continue to bond with it as I have done so far. Items that I could imagine being under consideration are:

CF boot spoiler and diffuser
Exhaust mod
BMW Height adjustable springs.

It doesn't needs springs for handling as far as I can tell, but next to the 335d it seems really high (I'll add pic for comparison).

So to summarise. The 335d never got close to my initial expectations as standard, and even after modifying extensively, it was a car that went about it's business impressively and effectively, but always felt so functional. To be fair to it, my expectations were unrealistic and not at all what it was designed to do.

My expectations of the M4 were even higher, and to be honest, it's actually been even better than I expected. I will caveat that with saying that this is after 1 week, and in glorious dry weather, and perhaps my first drive come a wet Autumn day will lead to a change of heart.

Thus far it feels like it has completed the lesson from the 335d of really buying the car that you want from scratch, rather than modifying to try and get it, and that there is so so much more to the character, performance, enjoyment of a car than what's written on paper. Really understanding what it is you want and need from a car sounds so obvious, yet how many of us have got it wrong over the years.

Anyway, probably not news to many folk, especially those who've made the change to an M car, or even diesel to any car with the 40i engine, but hope that's of help to someone, especially anyone mulling over buying an M3/M4 right now.

Thanks for the great review and your thoughts. Coming from the 8 speed auto box like I am about to, have you found the change to the DCT easy or a bit difficult? I ask as I had an M5 on loan for a lwhile and that was challenging driving at low speeds and in traffic in the west end.